Pellgrino Artusi's cookbook and the birth of modern Italian cuisine

In 1891, retired businessman and amateur literary enthusiast Pellegrino Artusi published a book that collected and introduced various regional recipes, offering a way to harmoniously integrate Italy's diverse culinary traditions into the culture of the newly unified nation. More than just a cookbook, this work provided Italians with a shared culinary language and cultural identity as the same nation, contributing significantly to the standardization of modern Italian culinary culture and language. This paper analyzes the reasons behind the enduring success of Artusi's The Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (1891), examining its impact on the popularization of Italian cuisine and the formation of cultural identity for foods in modern Italy.